rge mouths, with long and exceedingly sharp
teeth, set far apart. They were not so very wicked at present, but they
showed great promise, for already they were in the habit of killing
little children to suck their blood.

They had gone to bed early, and were all seven in a great bed, each with
a crown of gold upon her head.

In the same room there was another bed, equally large. Into this the
ogre's wife put the seven little boys, and then went to sleep herself
beside her husband.

Little Tom Thumb was fearful lest the ogre should suddenly regret that
he had not cut the throats of himself and his brothers the evening
before. Having noticed that the ogre's daughters all had golden crowns
upon their heads, he got up in the middle of the night and softly placed
his own cap and those of his brothers on their heads. Before doing so,
he carefully removed the crowns of gold, putting them on his own and his
brothers' heads. In this way, if the ogre were to feel like slaughtering
them that night he would mistake the girls for the boys, and _vice
versa_.

Things fell out just as he had anticipated. The ogre, waking up at
midnight, regretted that he had postponed till the morrow what he could
have done overnight. Jumping briskly out of bed, he seized his knife,
crying: 'Now then, let's see how the little rascals are; we won't make
the same mistake twice!'

He groped his way up to his daughters' room, and approached the bed in
which were the seven little boys. All were sleeping, with the exception
of little Tom Thumb, who was numb with fear when he felt the ogre's
hand, as it touched the head of each brother in turn, reach his own.

'Upon my word,' said the ogre, as he felt the golden crowns; 'a nice job
I was going to make of it! It is very evident that I drank a little too
much last night!'

Forthwith he went to the bed where his daughters were, and here he felt
the little boys' caps.

'Aha, here are the little scamps!' he cried; 'now for a smart bit of
work!'

[Illustration: '_He set off over the countryside_']

With these words, and without a moment's hesitation, he cut the throats
of his seven daughters, and well satisfied with his work went back to
bed beside his wife.

No sooner did little Tom Thumb hear him snoring than he woke up his
brothers, bidding them dress quickly and follow him. They crept quietly
down to the garden, and jumped from the wall. All through the night they
ran in haste and terror, without